I just died in David Cook's arms tonight
First, I have a DECLARATION, if you will... henceforth, I am not apologizing for/being embarrassed about my fannish diversions! Except for Dawson's Creek. That will always be shameful. (Though, okay, Pacey Witter. Srsly.) But otherwise? I am OWNING MY FANNISH GLEE.
So YEAH. I went to see David Cook tonight, with greensilver and, in a bit of last-minute glee, zabira, and it was AWESOME. Quick and dirty recap:
1. The show was at the Showbox SoDo, which, while not an ideal venue, is not nearly as bad as online reviews had led me to expect. I got there around 6:30 (so weird to be in SoDo around game-time and not be going to the game!), and the seats in the lounge were all already full. You have to get up pretty early in the morning to scoop the American Idol fangirls, apparently. Fortunately I found a seat on the edge of a raised platform thingy, where I camped out, had a sandwich and a couple of drinks, and watched the ballgame until the doors to the floor opened. (Cook threw out the first pitch at the game, so every time he showed up on the pre-game coverage, a cheer went up in the room. AWWWWW.)
2. Waiting for Jen and Z (who were stuck in line), there were people behind me talking about AI, naturally. I considered trying to join in their conversation, until one of them mentioned having been a Gokey fan. My only option from that point was to silently shun her. Which I did. I'm sure she felt the burn.
3. The opening act was called The Crash Kings, and they were really good! Their lead vocalist actually has a sort of Roger Daltrey thing going on, if Roger Daltrey had grown up with grunge and pop-punk. Really cool stuff, and they were ADORABLE, too. (And the singer and the bassist were brothers! AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. The drummer was "like my brother," though. D'AWWWWWWW x 2.)
4. After a very enthusiastic welcome for The Crash Kings, the (all-ages, and very true to that label, from the little girl behind us to the well-into-middle-age ladies to our left) crowd FLIPPED ITS COLLECTIVE SHIT for Cook. Holy crap. My ears may never stop ringing. And yeah, the sound in there isn't the best, and they crank what they've got for all they're worth, but in truth, it was the crowd and not the band that was actually deafening. Which was actually kind of awesome, because Cook? LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT. And I loved HIM, so it really all worked out! I knew he was going to be awesome, live, and he did not disappoint in the slightest--someone who knows his songs better would probably be able to come up with a more comprehensive set list, but I recognized Bar-ba-sol and Lie (two of my favorites), the Little Lies cover (same as GMA, more on that in a minute), Declaration, Mr. Sensitive, I Did It For You, Come Back To Me, and for an encore, they pulled out I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight (HOW DOES HE MAKE THAT RIDICULOUS SONG SO FUCKING HOT?) and Light On (which apparently long-time Cook fans are sick of, but since I'm late to this party, I kind of love it). I'm pretty sure there were other songs--they played for over an hour--but I am blanking! Suffice it to say that I THOROUGHLY enjoyed them ALL, and could have listened for much, much longer (until the inevitable deafness took over).
5. Kradam mention! Leading into Little Lies, Cook mentioned how he'd performed at GMA recently, with "a couple of friends, you might know them... Adam Lambert [pause for huge crowd cheer] and Kris Allen [pause for equally huge crowd cheer, which made me REALLY REALLY HAPPY]." Awwww! And then he talked about how they're both amazing and talented guys, and then he was like, "So without further ado, let me introduce--no, just kidding, they're not here. ...I probably just pissed a lot of people off." HEEE. HILARIOUS. (Good thing I knew that Kris and Adam are NOWHERE NEAR Seattle right now, or I might've been one of those people. Hee.)
6. There is no part of David Cook I would not lick. Just FTR.
7. No, srsly. He was glistening with sweat, rocking the sparkly plaid shirt (still proudly representing the Flamboyant Lumberjack Chorus, apparently), holding his guitar at an extremely suggestive angle, molesting the mic/mic stand with impunity (srsly, y'all, in my next life, I want to come back as a mic stand, they have ALL THE FUN), totally selling the soulful sexy rockstar thing and yet still occasionally breaking into delighted grins. And every time he literally so much as TWITCHED AN EYEBROW, the crowd went NUTS. It was fantastic. HE WAS FANTASTIC. And there was banter (re: the first pitch thing: "Yeah, for those of you who saw it, let's not talk about it. And for those of you who didn't see it... I threw a friggin' strike." HEEEE. Then, "I'm such a liar." HEEEEEEEEEE.), and he said "fucking" at one point (though I don't remember the context), and for real, I would see him in concert JUST FOR THE BANTER. I LOVE HIS BANTER YOU GUYS. And his showmanship, which is just. He's having SO MUCH FUN, it's IRRESISTIBLE. Very big with the crowd singalongs, and flinging guitar picks throughout, and occasionally stepping back for unplugged vocals, and of course the grinning, and gimme-more motions, and. GUH. HOT ADORABLENESS. Plus his VOICE. And the GUITAR-PORN. And also did I mention his VOICE. YUM. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. YUM.
8. Cook and (sexay lead guitarist) Neal. Um. OKAY THEN. Congratulations, Neal, you have just earned yourself a spot in my Adam/Cook fic! Also, Neal and Andy (sexadorable rhythm guitarist). GOOD TIMES. (Also, Cook was TOTALLY willing to step back and let Neal take center stage for a solo when the music called for it. GOOD BOY.)
9. In all honesty, I find Cook's sound kind of generic (I'M SORRY, I REALLY LIKE HIM [AND WOULD KILL TO HAVE A BEER WITH HIM AND ALSO MAYBE YOU KNOW OTHER THINGS SEE #7], I'M JUST SAYING--his music is good, but it's not particularly unique), but I love his voice, and the whole thing really growled and sizzled and thrashed perfectly in this venue, and I really do appreciate his lyrics, between the vocabulary and the refreshingly non-creepy, non-controlling vibe of them (sad as it is that that's worth remarking on). So it was musically satisfying, as well as satisfying in my pants!
10. After some brief, shining moments with one of the cute security guys and also the cute bassist from The Crash Kings, we took our red David Cook souvenir bracelets and departed, VERY WELL-PLEASED.
So. David Cook. Live. I RECOMMEND HIM. A fantastic show, especially for the price! (And if you have the option of being accompanied by Jen and Z, well, I RECOMMEND THAT, TOO. ♥)
And now... sleep.
So YEAH. I went to see David Cook tonight, with greensilver and, in a bit of last-minute glee, zabira, and it was AWESOME. Quick and dirty recap:
1. The show was at the Showbox SoDo, which, while not an ideal venue, is not nearly as bad as online reviews had led me to expect. I got there around 6:30 (so weird to be in SoDo around game-time and not be going to the game!), and the seats in the lounge were all already full. You have to get up pretty early in the morning to scoop the American Idol fangirls, apparently. Fortunately I found a seat on the edge of a raised platform thingy, where I camped out, had a sandwich and a couple of drinks, and watched the ballgame until the doors to the floor opened. (Cook threw out the first pitch at the game, so every time he showed up on the pre-game coverage, a cheer went up in the room. AWWWWW.)
2. Waiting for Jen and Z (who were stuck in line), there were people behind me talking about AI, naturally. I considered trying to join in their conversation, until one of them mentioned having been a Gokey fan. My only option from that point was to silently shun her. Which I did. I'm sure she felt the burn.
3. The opening act was called The Crash Kings, and they were really good! Their lead vocalist actually has a sort of Roger Daltrey thing going on, if Roger Daltrey had grown up with grunge and pop-punk. Really cool stuff, and they were ADORABLE, too. (And the singer and the bassist were brothers! AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. The drummer was "like my brother," though. D'AWWWWWWW x 2.)
4. After a very enthusiastic welcome for The Crash Kings, the (all-ages, and very true to that label, from the little girl behind us to the well-into-middle-age ladies to our left) crowd FLIPPED ITS COLLECTIVE SHIT for Cook. Holy crap. My ears may never stop ringing. And yeah, the sound in there isn't the best, and they crank what they've got for all they're worth, but in truth, it was the crowd and not the band that was actually deafening. Which was actually kind of awesome, because Cook? LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT. And I loved HIM, so it really all worked out! I knew he was going to be awesome, live, and he did not disappoint in the slightest--someone who knows his songs better would probably be able to come up with a more comprehensive set list, but I recognized Bar-ba-sol and Lie (two of my favorites), the Little Lies cover (same as GMA, more on that in a minute), Declaration, Mr. Sensitive, I Did It For You, Come Back To Me, and for an encore, they pulled out I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight (HOW DOES HE MAKE THAT RIDICULOUS SONG SO FUCKING HOT?) and Light On (which apparently long-time Cook fans are sick of, but since I'm late to this party, I kind of love it). I'm pretty sure there were other songs--they played for over an hour--but I am blanking! Suffice it to say that I THOROUGHLY enjoyed them ALL, and could have listened for much, much longer (until the inevitable deafness took over).
5. Kradam mention! Leading into Little Lies, Cook mentioned how he'd performed at GMA recently, with "a couple of friends, you might know them... Adam Lambert [pause for huge crowd cheer] and Kris Allen [pause for equally huge crowd cheer, which made me REALLY REALLY HAPPY]." Awwww! And then he talked about how they're both amazing and talented guys, and then he was like, "So without further ado, let me introduce--no, just kidding, they're not here. ...I probably just pissed a lot of people off." HEEE. HILARIOUS. (Good thing I knew that Kris and Adam are NOWHERE NEAR Seattle right now, or I might've been one of those people. Hee.)
6. There is no part of David Cook I would not lick. Just FTR.
7. No, srsly. He was glistening with sweat, rocking the sparkly plaid shirt (still proudly representing the Flamboyant Lumberjack Chorus, apparently), holding his guitar at an extremely suggestive angle, molesting the mic/mic stand with impunity (srsly, y'all, in my next life, I want to come back as a mic stand, they have ALL THE FUN), totally selling the soulful sexy rockstar thing and yet still occasionally breaking into delighted grins. And every time he literally so much as TWITCHED AN EYEBROW, the crowd went NUTS. It was fantastic. HE WAS FANTASTIC. And there was banter (re: the first pitch thing: "Yeah, for those of you who saw it, let's not talk about it. And for those of you who didn't see it... I threw a friggin' strike." HEEEE. Then, "I'm such a liar." HEEEEEEEEEE.), and he said "fucking" at one point (though I don't remember the context), and for real, I would see him in concert JUST FOR THE BANTER. I LOVE HIS BANTER YOU GUYS. And his showmanship, which is just. He's having SO MUCH FUN, it's IRRESISTIBLE. Very big with the crowd singalongs, and flinging guitar picks throughout, and occasionally stepping back for unplugged vocals, and of course the grinning, and gimme-more motions, and. GUH. HOT ADORABLENESS. Plus his VOICE. And the GUITAR-PORN. And also did I mention his VOICE. YUM. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. YUM.
8. Cook and (sexay lead guitarist) Neal. Um. OKAY THEN. Congratulations, Neal, you have just earned yourself a spot in my Adam/Cook fic! Also, Neal and Andy (sexadorable rhythm guitarist). GOOD TIMES. (Also, Cook was TOTALLY willing to step back and let Neal take center stage for a solo when the music called for it. GOOD BOY.)
9. In all honesty, I find Cook's sound kind of generic (I'M SORRY, I REALLY LIKE HIM [AND WOULD KILL TO HAVE A BEER WITH HIM AND ALSO MAYBE YOU KNOW OTHER THINGS SEE #7], I'M JUST SAYING--his music is good, but it's not particularly unique), but I love his voice, and the whole thing really growled and sizzled and thrashed perfectly in this venue, and I really do appreciate his lyrics, between the vocabulary and the refreshingly non-creepy, non-controlling vibe of them (sad as it is that that's worth remarking on). So it was musically satisfying, as well as satisfying in my pants!
10. After some brief, shining moments with one of the cute security guys and also the cute bassist from The Crash Kings, we took our red David Cook souvenir bracelets and departed, VERY WELL-PLEASED.
So. David Cook. Live. I RECOMMEND HIM. A fantastic show, especially for the price! (And if you have the option of being accompanied by Jen and Z, well, I RECOMMEND THAT, TOO. ♥)
And now... sleep.